Reaching the first page on Google shouldn’t be a primary goal of low-budget local SEO campaigns. Ranking for a competitive keyword in a crowded niche is an impossible task if you aren’t making significant investments into backlinks and content.This inability to rank makes investing in SEO crucial. Smart business owners understand that investing in SEO means playing a long-term game. Bottom of the funnel competitive keywords are often out of reach, but that doesn’t mean you can’t drive results on long-tail keywords and hyper-local/personalized search results.
- Why SEO services should be an indispensable part of your marketing budget
- Customized Local SEO Packages
- How can Local SEO strategy affect the customer’s journey?
- Why affordable local SEO services are the solution for your limited budget
How Local SEO rankings work, and why it isn’t necessary to rank for your desired keyword to drive visits and results
Let’s assume that you have the desired keyword you want ranked. In our case, it would be “SEO agency Chicago.” Typing this keyword out will pull up the map listings under Google Ads listings and above Organic listings. We typically refer to these as ad “local pack,” “3 pack,” or “maps.”
Typing this query will pull the strongest websites in Chicago per algorithm. However, if you aren’t located in Chicago these results are potentially irrelevant.
Your location plays a key role in determining what will show up in your “local pack”. Aspects that will determine what you will see will be three following things:
- Proximity to local maps listing
- The date of the most recent review
- Overall review frequency and number of reviews
- Accuracy of NAPs and local directories pointing to your local listing and website
- Local authority perceived by Google
We’ve seen local listings that never rank for their “keyword + location” query, but consistently pull local and relevant traffic due to geographic results.
In hindsight, it should be the result of conjoined marketing strategies and tools. The design of the website, coding, link building, copywriting, blogging, etc., are all defined as an integral part of the SEO strategy that affects your online business visibility.
Using local SEO services is an excellent maneuver for reaching your final target, and getting your business recognized at the local level without ranking for specific competitive keywords.
Why SEO services should be an indispensable part of your marketing budget
Limited budgets mean you have to plan your investments wisely, especially at the beginning of your business odyssey. Considering that 34% of small business owners have said that using SEO strategies has helped them reach new customers, the decision to invest in digital tools can be crucial for the development of your small business.
Using local SEO services is an affordable and effective solution for enhancing the visibility of your small business, especially at the local level. Investing in local SEO enables business growth and drives traffic.
While SEO strategy is a rational investment decision, results don’t happen overnight. SEO is a long-term, pre-planned strategy that requires time to rank your business in search pages. We strongly advise planning at least 6 months before to get the results you’re aiming for.
Customized Local SEO Packages
Every business requires a specific approach to its local SEO strategy; more important than it seems at first glance.
The fact of the matter is, half of the 67,000 Google queries generated every second are executed using keywords attached to a local place or business. This alone proves the significance of local SEO. In order to drive traffic towards your brand, we recommend a few different steps of a local SEO strategy that will improve your search engine ranking.
#1 step: Conducting an in-depth local SEO audit will indicate your current position on search engines. This will help us set the right goal to increase customers, business, and revenue growth.
#2 step: Identifying keywords that indicate the most used local search terms. Allows us to target local customers who are searching for terms that are similar to the products or services you sell.
#3 step: Setting up your Google My Business profile with detailed information such as website address, store address, operation hours, Google Maps, photos, business directories and customer reviews all serve as important components for getting search engines to favor you. Reviews have an incredible impact on your customers’ decisions as well. They show the opinions of other consumers who testify in favor of the trustworthiness of your brand, and the quality of your product or service.
#4 step: Creating Google posts is an additional feature of Google My Business that grants you the ability to push your short content onto the first page of the search engines. This content should be relevant to fresh news around your business such as an upcoming event, any product changes, or seasonal sales.
#5 step: Auditing the website’s mobile usability. Smartphone usefulness is essential for your business. Google itself positions websites with this feature; 52% of Google searches are executed on a mobile phone. Another important aspect is that 82% of consumers search for local businesses close to them.
#6 step: Refining Local Technical SEO requires working on backend coding. It contributes to taking the strain off of search crawlers by making the structure of your site easier to process. Equally as important, is the creation of rich snippets. When optimized these increase your website’s click-through rate.
#7 step: Using White Hat SEO techniques uses a mix of practices that increase the probability of your website being seen. These techniques contain monitoring functions that help with optimizing any site attributes such as broken links, website speed, title tags, meta descriptions, and building backlinks from high-authority websites.
Successful backlink strategies can also be based on your social media business profiles where you can share the links directing to your website. This will increase your visibility and positively impact your dealings with Google since their algorithm prefers these types of “natural” and unpaid links.
How can Local SEO strategy affect the customer’s journey?
Depending on your business type and niche, customer journey maps can be created in several different ways. The first step of every customer journey is the acknowledgment of your business and its brand awareness.
When searching for businesses close by, your potential customers are most likely going to use search engines from their smartphones. This is how the journey starts.
The next step a potential customer will take is to find some comparative reviews between your product(s) and the competition. After that, a customer will usually make an in-store visit.
However, this is only a small part of a customer’s journey, they will research your business online. Their research process could consist of more than 500 touchpoints before this prospect is converted to a buyer.
They need to be convinced that your business is trustworthy and that other consumers have had a positive experience with your product or service. They will check your social media, read reviews, go through your website, along with other outlets to ensure they are about to make the right decision. This is where your content and reviews can play a key role. The content you are providing should affirm your customers that your brand is reliable and trustworthy.
Opposite to the linear marketing funnels, customer journeys are made of many crosswise interactions that a local SEO strategy can successfully streamline via:
- Enhancing local directories
- Utilizing high-quality images and design on Google’s local listing itself and off of 3rd party directories
- Keeping phone numbers visible and easily accessible
- Continuously improving client feedback and reviews
- Ensuring 100% NAP consistency
Ultimately, local SEO is so much more than rankings. It is about the maintenance of local digital reputation. It means not only offering visibility, but improving the general impression your brand makes on your soon-to-be clients.
Why affordable local SEO services are the solution for your limited budget
A limited budget doesn’t necessarily mean limited options. Today, only 27% of small businesses are using the full potential of local SEO. The decision to use affordable local SEO services can launch your business effectively and efficiently, giving you a favorable position in the local small business environment. Once you take advantage of this, you will set up solid pillars for your SEO rankings that will ensure a consistent and reliable edge over your competition.
